NSW DPI Biometrics software download page

NSW DPI software is available for public use under a restricted free license.
(License conditions are shown on the next screen.)

Available software

Please select at least one software item and then press Continue. More information on each software
item is provided below.
(If you have any difficulties, please email the webmaster (Damian Collins, I&I NSW)).

BVest

A program for breeding value prediction using best linear unbiased prediction
(BLUP).
BVest has been used for many years in Australia's
LAMBPLAN program.
(See below for more information.)

DiGGer

An experimental design generation program suitable for complex multistage
design problems. It accommodates spatial designs.
(See below for more information.)

More information about the software

BVest has been used in the Australian Sheep industry's
LAMBPLAN genetics evaluation program
at an across flock level from 1991 until 2002 and is still (2008) used within DPI.
It allows preadjustment for known factors (e.g. age, birth type) and formally fits groups
(cohorts) and animals.

BVest is designed for routine industry level processing rather than for ad hoc evaluation,
in that it requires a fairly complicated parameter file be supplied to control the analysis.
It is a batch, or command-line driven, application and does not have a GUI interface.

It has been used to evaluate about 20 traits (counting repeated measures as separate traits)
on half a million lambs. It would be suitable for the early stages of developing a national
breeding program in a developing country. Support in setting up a BVest application is available
on a consultancy basis.

BVest is available for either Windows (32 bit) or Linux (32 or 64 bit).
Each downloadable package contains installation instructions, pdf documentation,
the original LAMBPLAN parameter file, and a sample dataset, as well as the appropriate
executable file.

BVest was written in Fortran 77 by
Arthur Gilmour in 1991 (now retired from NSW DPI).

DiGGer

DiGGer is a program to search for optimal experimental designs. It
aims to provide a flexible tool for most non-factorial design
situations. The user specifies experimental layout and treatment
replication levels. Experimental designs with these specifications
are optimised under user specified correlation and blocking. DiGGer
can find optimal or near-optimal incomplete block designs, row-column
designs and spatial (AR or MA) designs.

DiGGer was developed for cereal variety trials with plots in
rectangular arrays but can be used for any design which may be
nominally described in row and column layouts. Designs may have
treatments with unequal replication and may have missing plots.
Designs may be optimised for comparisons between groups of
treatments.

DiGGer is available as a standalone executable and as an R
package. The standalone version runs from an input file or
interactively in a command window. The R package generates search
specifications which may be modified before the search is run.
Functions in R provide search methods for common design types.

Both forms of the program call a Fortran executable to perform the
search. The program is written and maintained by
Neil Coombes.